Volunteers spend holiday walking dogs at Memphis Humane Society

(WMC-TV) - The Thanksgiving holiday does not mean a break for volunteers at the Memphis Humane Society.

Thursday, volunteers reserved part of their holiday for shelter dogs waiting for a family to take them home.

"They're so excited to see you, and Thanksgiving wouldn't feel that festive if I didn't have this," said volunteer Katie Pemberton.

Dog walkers spent Thursday morning taking every dog out of the shelter for some playtime.

"They don't have homes, you know, a lot of them have been treated poorly in the past by people," said volunteer Adam Remsen. "They're happy dogs, and that's what we do here is get them healthy and happy and ready to be adopted."

Teams work year-round in rotating shifts, but on Thanksgiving, they all came at once and stayed until all 150 dogs were cared for.

"We stay until they're all out and they've had their bathroom break and their fun, their exercise, and all that," said Pemberton.

Anyone over the age of 17 can volunteer to be a dog walker at the Memphis Humane Society. They have orientation meetings twice a month. You only have to attend one in order to volunteer.

Brianna Seibert said she was anxious to turn 17 so she could volunteer.

"I really wanted to be a dog walker," she said. "I took the orientation, I got my leash and my shirt, and so my birthday was yesterday and I'm up here today."

Volunteers said they are thankful for the unconditional love at the Memphis Humane Society.